on wednesday, both senate majority leader harry reid and house speaker john boehner pledged to negotiate in good faith. >> the american people want us to work together. republicans and democrats want us to work together. they want a balanced approach to everything, but especially the situation we have dealing with this huge deficit and taxes that are part of that. >> there is an alternative to going over the fiscal cliff. it involves making real changes to the financial structure of entitlement programs and reforming our tax code to curb special interest loopholes and deductions. by working together and creating a simpler, cleaner tax code, we give our country a stronger, healthier economy. >> powerful winter storm again has blasted the northeast, bringing wet snow and strong winds to areas already devastated by last week's superstorm sandy. tens of thousands of homes and businesses lost power along the east coast from the carolinas to new york on wednesday, joining the more than half a million customers who still remain without power in sandy's wake. concerns were raised the storm could